On Aug. 23, 1989, the Dodgers and Expos got locked into one of the strangest games baseball has ever seen, and Tommy Lasorda made sure it got even stranger.
Los Angeles was in Montreal at Olympic Stadium that night for a matchup featuring two of the National League’s top arms: reigning Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser and Pascual Perez. Both delivered exactly the kind of duel the billing promised. Perez worked eight shutout innings, while Hershiser held Montreal scoreless over seven before Lasorda pulled him in the top of the eighth for a pinch-hitter.
From there, the game turned into a marathon. Neither team scored through nine innings, and the chances kept coming once extras began. Montreal had a golden opening in the bottom of the 16th, loading the bases with one out before Mike Fitzgerald sent a drive to right that appeared to bring home the winning run on a sacrifice fly.
Lasorda challenged the play, though, and Larry Walker was ruled out for leaving third base too early. The inning ended, and the game rolled on.
The Dodgers then had their own shot in the 18th when Eddie Murray launched a ball deep to right. Walker went to the wall and made the catch to end the threat, even though replay showed he had actually trapped the ball. Replay review wasn’t available then, so the call stood.
That’s when things veered fully into the absurd. Lasorda started jawing at the umpires, and the reason turned out to be Youppi!, the Expos mascot, who had been dancing on top of the visitors’ dugout and needling Lasorda and the Dodgers for two innings.
Lasorda was so incensed that Youppi! became the first mascot ever ejected from a Major League game.
The game finally ended in the 22nd inning when veteran catcher Rick Dempsey, who had just his second homer of the season, sent the Dodgers home with a 1-0 win. It remains one of the most memorable games in franchise history.
Aug. 23 also brings a couple of other Dodgers milestones. In 1958, Gil Hodges hit his 14th career grand slam, setting a new National League record and helping the Dodgers roll to a 10-1 win over the Milwaukee Braves at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
And on Aug. 23, 2013, Vin Scully said he would be back in the booth the next season, extending his run to 65 straight years. He stayed there until retiring after the 2016 season.
In Other News...
Diamondbacks Turn To Former Dodgers Fill-In As Infield Trouble Grows
Arizona has dipped into familiar territory for help in the infield, bringing in Santiago Espinal on a minor-league deal as the Diamondbacks try to steady a roster hit by injuries. The move comes after a rough run for Espinal in his brief initial stint with the Dodgers in early 2026, when his bat never got going and he was designated for assignment twice.
The fit is obvious enough from the Dodgers perspective, since they know exactly what the veteran utility type can and cannot provide. Arizona needs coverage with Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list after knee inflammation, following a stretch on the restricted list, and Espinal gives them another option while they sort through the rest of the infield picture. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Fans Got An Eye-Catching First Look At Cam Leiter
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Elsewhere, Jackson Ferris turned in a solid five-inning outing while allowing one run in Oklahoma Citys Triple-A win, and Chris Newell provided the biggest swing of the night with a grand slam in Tulsas one-run loss. There were other notable contributions across the Dodgers minor league clubs, but Leiters debut stood out as the sort of performance that makes a player worth tracking the next time the farm system scoreboard lights up. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Got A Kobe Release That Feels Pure Los Angeles
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For the Dodgers, it was less about a simple apparel drop and more about a piece of local culture arriving in the middle of the season. The collections design language is built around Bryant and Los Angeles, which is why the reaction inside the room mattered, even in a short clip. It is the kind of crossover that resonates in this market, where basketball and baseball are always brushing up against each other, and where anything connected to Kobe tends to carry a little extra weight. [Read more 🡒]